Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2014 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------My eTwinning Journey
by David Ceiriog-Hughes
I started eTwinning in 2010 with a general studies
project called “My favourite work of art”. This gave
me the enthusiasm and motivation to attempt other
projects with my language classes and also with the
general studies classes that I teach. I have taught
French, German and general studies at Winchester
College, the oldest school in England, since 1989. I
teach pupils aged 14-18 and am also coordinator
for European projects. In this brief article I would
like to analyse three aspects of eTwinning: what it
can do for teachers, what it can do for pupils and
how it can be used to develop other links.
The teachers
Teachers can use eTwinning to motivate their
pupils, to make other European cultures a vibrant
and realistic part of classroom life. They can also be
helped through webinars to upgrade their own
digital competences. After doing a couple of
projects, I realised that I needed to equip myself
with the ICT skills needed to complete projects of a
higher quality, so I applied for and was lucky
enough to receive a grant to attend a summer
course in Malta run by Smart Solutions, which was
an enriching experience and can be highly
recommended. It was a wonderful opportunity to
engage with eTwinners from all over Europe and to
tailor the course to my own needs.
After a prize winning project, “Joyce, Svevo and
Trieste”, which won a European Quality Label, I was
invited to become an ambassador and to deliver
training on behalf of our national agency, the British
Council. I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to
share my interests and enthusiasm with other
colleagues, and I feel that eTwinning provides us
with a professional and pedagogical support group
that is very valuable for ongoing professional
development.
The pupils
My pupils have the opportunity to become familiar
with other European cultures, to realise that we
have more in common than sets us apart and to
improve their own digital and ICT skills. They also
get to improve their communication skills, both in
their own and other languages. A recent project
that I finished, “In the steps of Brancusi”, with
Colegiul National Stefan Velovan in Craiova, led to a
visit by 12 pupils to the city of Craiova to look at
the sculptor’s works.
What follows is a photograph that shows our group
at Brancusi’s house in Hobita:
And this is teacher Simona Cerasela Bocai
accompanied by me at the Endless Column:
A return visit by Romanian pupils will take place
this autumn. The pupils have exchanged regularly
and are now firm friends, despite being some 2000
kilometres apart. What has enabled this?
eTwinning, and the constant encouragement of
their teachers. This project can be viewed on
Issuu.com as
http://issuu.com/brancusi/docs/in_the_steps_of_br
ancusi_sur_les_pa.
Other links
The eTwinning projects that I have undertaken
have led to class visits, job shadowing visits, pupil
and teacher exchanges with Trieste and Craiova. In
almost every case, the synergy between the
committed teachers involved in eTwinning means
that it is just the first step. At Winchester we have
now established memoranda of understanding with
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